Sermons on Luke (Page 6)
The Blessing of Home
As we move toward the fourth and final Sunday of Advent, we continue our series that focuses on coming home for Christmas. The Luke text this week is filled with wonder as cousins greet one another and experience the wonder of connection and the mystery of new life. It’s wonder-full! And it’s a blessing. Scripture: Micah 5:2-5a (NRSV), Luke 1:39-45 (CEB)
The Joy of Home
This is the Third Sunday of Advent, understood in part through our Advent Candle liturgy as a reminder of joy! In light of our series on home, it is my hope that returning home is exciting and joy-filled! For many of us—hopefully most of us—this is indeed the most wonderful time of the year! There is laughter, reunion, and joy; there are happy memories and celebrations of deep love. May this celebration of the third Sunday of Advent help us…
The Fear of Home
We want Christmas to be happy, a time of celebration of joy! And for the most part, it is! And for those whose return home is fraught with anxiety, it is an opportunity: for reconciliation, for healing, for peace. Christmas is a chance for the paths to be made straight, the valleys to be filled, the mountains and hills made low, so that all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Scripture: Malachi 3:1-4, Luke 3:1-6 (NRSV)
Time to Go Home
As Jesus’ message in the parables and his teachings often tends to challenge our conventional understandings of faith and practices, it also invites us to re-evaluate, re-imagine, and re-interpret our usual understanding of things. With this in mind, the text for this Sunday is both challenging and inviting. It’s challenging our normal perception of Advent and inviting us to see it through new lenses. Scripture: Luke 21:25-36 (CEB)
The Rich Man & Lazarus
This Sunday we conclude our sermon series on the parables of Jesus. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus may be another familiar one, and in this case the original audience may have guessed the same about each character as we do today. Even so, Professor Levine reminds us not to think of this parable as one about the afterlife but is a message that we can still make changes in this life. Scripture: Luke 16:19-31
The Widow & the Judge
This Sunday we near the end of our sermon series on the parables of Jesus, this one addressed to those who “need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged.” I’m not sure about you, but the idea of praying continuously wears me out. Honestly, I feel like I have been! So in a way, I feel like this parable is for me. Maybe it’s for you too… Scripture: Luke 18:1-8
The Pharisee & the Tax Collector
This Sunday we continue our sermon series on the parables of Jesus with the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. What a moving parable this is! What an opportunity for us to feel good about ourselves and to comfort ourselves… well at least if we identify more with the tax collector (think IRS) rather than the Pharisee (think of the uber-religious person). Jesus directs this parable to those who hold themselves above others in their religiosity. Scripture: Luke…
Hospitality: The Good Samaritan
This Sunday we continue our sermon series on the parables of Jesus. Once again, we enter into a familiar story! The Good Samaritan is surely one we’ve heard ourselves, we’ve heard a number of pop culture references, and perhaps we’ve even seen children or grandchildren or nieces/nephews perform skits. We know this story! Perhaps we even see ourselves in this story. Scripture: Luke 10:24-37 (CEB)
Prodigal Son Redux
This Sunday we begin a new sermon series on the parables of Jesus, and the first will be the familiar story of the prodigal son. We’ve surely heard this story before, and sometimes when we hear the same story again and again—even one that has importance to us—we can drift away and lose interest. But when we hear another storyteller or hear another perspective, we can find new interest and new joy in the same story once again. Scripture: Luke…
Where do We See God?
This Sunday we begin our new series on Questions that Matter. This first week, we address a deep question that is rooted in our experience of God. As United Methodists, many of us affirm the Wesleyan Quadrilateral where we approach faith through scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. While not framed quite so succinctly, John Wesley clearly approached his own faith this way, and we can learn the importance of experiencing God. Scripture: Exodus 33:12-23, Luke 10:25-37 (CEB)
As We Forgive
This week we examine the concept of forgiveness. It may be worth noting that throughout this series on The Lord’s Prayer, we’ve chosen to read the Matthew text from a different translation each week. This brings us perspective as we read this prayer throughout the series. I hope that it is also illustrative for us as we remember the many ways Christians from different denominations say this prayer! All of this leads us to ask what we are seeking forgiveness…
On Earth as It Is in Heaven
This week we continue our series exploring the importance of the central teaching of The Lord’s Prayer. Pastor Lea explored the opening verse last week (find her sermon here), and this week we follow seeking God’s kingdom on earth as it is from heaven. It may be that we don’t know quite what we’re asking for when we pray this. Scripture: Matthew 6:9-10 (NLT), Luke 22:41-42 (CEB)